Hello, dreamers.

Let me open by saying I do, in fact, realize it’s Thursday. However, engrossed as I was in revisions on Monday I neglected to make my customary Writer’s Desk post. Thus, I resolved to make a WIP Wednesday post this week, even though I technically do not consider The Pioneer a work-in-progress anymore, which means I technically have no work-in-progress. Either way, come Wednesday, engrossed as I was in revisions, I forgot to make the post. Thus, here it is.

As my more diligent readers will know, I’ve been putting off major revisions on The Pioneer for months. Now that I’ve finally begun the process, however, I’m surprised at how well it’s going, and that I have a lot less work to do than I had thought. Still, I have a lot of work to do between now and Pitch Wars. That said, here’s my latest (and likely final) update on my beloved work-in-progress:

The Pioneer

Making my pass through Wide Horizon left me eager to revisit The Pioneer…though also nervous, as I feared I’d find a rough, disheveled mess of a first draft to work with. Overall, I was very happy with The Pioneer, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that was only so because I was too close to the story, unable to read objectively and see it for the mistake-riddled mess of plotholes it was. However, that changed recently as a CP was reading it. Jania is a CP extraordinaire, and I was expecting the worst. I kept cautioning her that the novel had only been lightly revised. However, thus far she’s been blown away by the story.

So, maybe, just maybe, I have once again been my own worst critic.

My recent pass through the story went much the way my pass through Wide Horizon did: a lot of tidying up, tightening up my wording, removing superfluous sentences. In fact, there was a lot less of that to do in The Pioneer. Nonetheless, I still have concerns regarding the end of the story. My work is not yet done.

Thus, tonight I began work on two potential replacement scenes for the final chapters of the novel. It was the first time I’d written any significant amount in some time. But while I may not be done for the night, I managed about three pages. It may all be garbage, but it was a start. And it felt good to be back.

Starting work at this point should give me more than enough time to thoroughly-revise the new sections, add at least one of them, and potentially re-work additional sections to accommodate them. I have until the end of August to get all of this done, and while it helps knowing I only have two passages to work on, the fact that both lie in the final phase of the story (and one will in fact be the ending) means I can’t rush this. The last thing I want is to find myself scrambling on the last week of August, either rushing to complete and integrate the new passages or wondering if I should just keep everything the way it is.

I should have principal writing done by Monday, which will give me the rest of the month to tweak, revise, and adapt. However, once these final sections are complete, I will be looking for a new work-in-progress. At the moment, the plan is to begin work on the sequel to The Pioneer: The Pioneers, which I also intend to use for NaNoWriMo this year.

It’s been a busy month, and it’s only going to get busier. For now, keep reading, keep commenting, and dare to dream. – MK